


pretend like there's no world outside

by HearJessRoar



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Napping, alex falls asleep on willie thats it thats the fic, only a tiny tiny bit this time i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HearJessRoar/pseuds/HearJessRoar
Summary: Twenty five years without a nap can really take it out of a guy.Alex dreams of Before
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 314





	pretend like there's no world outside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thesunwillshineclear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesunwillshineclear/gifts).



One of the fun new features of their sudden tangibility is that they get tired now.

And by "fun" Alex means "frustrating."

He doesn't _want_ to let the yawn get the best of him, but it does, cracking his jaw as he stretches his arms above his head. The worn-out elastic cuffs of Willie’s sweatshirt slip down his forearms as he does.

He's still a little embarrassed by their sweatshirt swapping, but Willie doesn't seem to care. And the way he looks in Alex’s hoodie right now, it's like Champion knew he was gonna wear it one day and said they'd make it specifically for him.

Willie’s sherpa is a little oversized, since that's how he likes his cozy clothes, and Alex feels like he drowns in it, but like.

In a good way.

A really good way.

It's corny, but the shirt smells like salt and the coconut conditioner Willie had used in the 80s, and it just feels so _lived in_ that it soothes the knot in his chest that forms whenever he's terrified of embarrassing himself in front of Willie.

Again.

The movie on Julie’s laptop screen flickers in the darkness, and it’s one they’ve all seen but Julie hasn’t, because, and he quotes, “Some of us were born in _this_ century.”

Luke had called her a stuck up movie snob, and Reggie had joined, so of course Alex had to jump onboard and Willie would do anything for a laugh, so eventually Julie had to give in. And, she concedes, it’s always really funny when she references something in front of her dad that he didn’t know she’d seen.

The day is catching up with all of them, though. Reggie and Luke are both tipped into Julie on either of her shoulders, Reggie’s arms crossed over his chest and Luke with his feet on the coffee table. She has one of Luke’s hands in both of hers, and if Alex wasn’t so sleepy himself, he’d tease her for her fascination with the guitar calluses on Luke’s fingers. But he’s drowsy, and trying to keep himself from slumping over onto Willie, and frankly he doesn’t have the energy to do much right now.

Willie glances over at him, his eyebrows up in a questioning look. Alex can feel the blush spread across his nose as Willie raises the arm closest to him in invitation. But he takes it anyway, shifting into a half lean that has his cheek pressed up against Willie’s chest. Willie rests his arm across Alex’s back, his hand cupping his shoulder soothingly as his thumb sweeps back and forth.

It’s the same self-soothing gesture Willie does for himself when he’s nervous, and Alex’s dead heart would thud in his chest if it could, just from how much that means to him.

The familiar fabric of his own hoodie under his cheek is comforting, and the soft lining of Willie’s sherpa bunches up under his throat and Alex feels _safe_ in a way he hasn’t for a very long time.

Not since before he’d had to sneak in and out of his own house to avoid his parents, not since the thousand yard stare of his mother and the heartbreak on his father’s face. Even when his mother had told him shakily that they were never angry with him, it was society they were scared of, afraid _for_ him, that first reaction was burned into the back of his skull. For the rest of his life and then some.

But Willie is _here_ and his parents are _not_ and it’s 2020 and he’s already been dead for twenty five whole years so joke’s on his parents the thing that took him out wasn’t hatred but his own stupidity, go figure.

Willie leans forward, presses his lips to Alex’s hairline and _damn_ , now Alex knows why Willie always blushes like crazy when Alex does that to him. It was… _a lot._

“Go to sleep, ‘lex,” Willie whispers, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he hasn’t woken up anybody else.

“...’kay,” Alex murmurs, snuggling down more as Willie brings up his other hand to brush Alex’s hair away from his face.

And he drifts off, surrounded by the warm scent of the beach and coconut, Willie’s thumb still making that _back and forth_ motion on his shoulder.

Alex dreams of Before.

He dreams of playing on the pier, an upturned bucket between his knees and his sticks in his hands as the sun blares hot against his back. Luke hopping around with his acoustic, weaving between people with his most charming grin as Reggie trails behind him doing the harmonies and clapping out the counterbeat with his hands. They never could afford a portable amp for his bass, not even in his dreams, apparently.

But Bobby isn’t the one with the busking hat.

There is no Bobby, and instead it’s Julie, her tiny stature negated in the world of dreams, and she seems ten feet tall with her kind smile as she belts the melody that Luke has abandoned.

There’s a sense of _right right right_ to it all, and when Alex looks over, he finds Willie grinning back at him, sitting next to him with wind-tousled hair and the sun shining down like it traveled all this way just to highlight him specifically.

The song they’re playing has no discernable words, because this is a dream, and nothing makes a whole lot of sense, and no one tips them because somewhere in his subconscious Alex still knows he’s dead and what does a corpse need with cash anyway? But still they play on, and Alex feels _content_ and isn’t that what matters?

Something strokes his hair and Alex stirs, blinking.

His vision is pink.

“You awake, sleepyhead?” asks Willie’s voice. Alex can feel the rumble of it from Willie’s chest, under his jaw. He sits up, scrubbing at his eyes. He notes that they're alone in the studio, the dimmer lights on and softly illuminating the space with yellow warmth. Julie's laptop sits closed on the coffee table, and the world outside the windows seems to be just as asleep as Alex had been. 

“...time ‘s it?” he asks.

Willie answers, but Alex doesn’t hear him, because he’s just discovered the familiar tacky feeling of dried spit in the corner of his mouth. Horrified, he rubs at his face, and then risks a glance to where he’d been laying on Willie.

“Oh my god. I _drooled_ on you,” he says, mortified. Willie gives him an amused look, stretching out the pink hoodie where there’s a darker patch right where he’d been two seconds earlier and looking at it like he hadn’t noticed until just now.

“Yeah? So?”

“That’s so _gross_. Dude, I’m so sorry-”

“This is _your_ hoodie, man.”

“ _Still-_ ”

Willie cuts him off. “‘lex, listen. I’m glad you slept that hard, okay? I’m actually really flattered that you trust me enough to conk out that much.” He reaches out and straightens the neckline of his hoodie on Alex, the sherpa lining brushing the back of Alex’s neck as he does so. And Alex is blushing again, but so is Willie, so he doesn’t feel nearly as embarrassed about it.

At least, not until Willie continues with a mischievous grin, “Unfortunately, Reggie also saw it and I’m pretty sure he’s gonna tease you until the end of time now.”

Alex groans and buries his face in his too-big borrowed sleeves.

**Author's Note:**

> thesunwillart drew this absolutely adorable piece of alex napping on willie and i of course had to ruin it in the tags by saying alex drools on him and then ryn freakin drew that too so now this exists bc i couldn't help myself anyway stan ryn
> 
> i wanted to write this last night but got sleepy myself so i slammed this out in the spare hour i had before work now i gotta go put my face on. isn't everyone proud of me i almost wrote a fic that was just fluff. almost. not quite.
> 
> pls comment if you liked it and then go check out my other jatp works!!


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